Sri Lanka's Coomaraswamy brings back transparency to IMF dealings

Aug 11, 2017, 03:05 PM

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's Central Bank Governor has seemingly brought back transparency to relations with the International Monetary Fund, authorising the timely release of economic reports, which were suppressed in recent years.

IMF economic reports were released regularly from the tenure of Governor A S Jayawardene. But, they were delayed or suppressed altogether when governors Nivard Cabraal and Arjuna Mahendran were in office.

"In keeping with its policy of transparency, the government has authorised the publication of this letter and its attachments, as well as the associated staff report," a revised deal with the IMF said.

In April 2016, then Governor Mahendran denied knowledge of a suppressed staff report. But, in June, the IMF said the report had been suppressed at Sri Lanka's request.

From 2008, IMF economic reports and have been delayed or suppressed from time to time. (Colombo/Aug11/2017)